Metro News Release

For immediate release: April 22, 2004

Pandas come to Metrorail system

Not only can area residents and visitors take Metrorail to see the pandas at the National Zoo, but soon they" ll be able to see pandas at or adjacent to 18 other Metrorail stations this spring. The Metro Board Operations and Safety Committee today endorsed a proposal that will allow for the temporary installation of five panda sculptures on Metrorail property as part of PandaMania, the city-wide display of six-foot panda sculptures brought to the District of Columbia by the DC Arts Commission. Additionally, the Committee agreed to support the District government’s temporary placement of 13 PandaMania sculptures on sidewalks abutting eight Metrorail stations. The PandaMania sculptures will be placed at the Benning Road, Tenleytown-AU, Anacostia and Rhode Island Avenue Metrorail stations and at the Jackson Graham Building (Metro headquarters). They will also appear on sidewalks that abut the following stations: Dupont Circle (2), Eastern Market (2), Farragut North (2), Farragut West (1), Metro Center (4), Van Ness/UDC (1), and Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan (1) Metrorail stations. There will be 150 of the six-feet-tall fiberglass sculptures installed throughout the District from May through September" 10 percent of them at or abutting Metrorail stations. The Arts Commission is sponsoring the costs to fabricate, install, maintain, insure and remove the sculptures. There is no cost to Metro. Metro’s Art in Transit Department is assisting the District with city-wide installations of the sculptures. " " PandaMania will provide a wonderful opportunity to feature the work of many talented local and nationally known artists," said Michael McBride, Metro’s Manager of Art in Transit Program. " With approximately 670,000 people per weekday who use Metro, sites near our system entrances are ideal venues for the work." Two years ago, 21 Party Animals, original sculptures of donkeys and elephants, were also on or near Metro-owned property.

News release issued on April 22, 2004.